News of the Day From Across the Nation, Feb. 6

Published 4:25 pm, Thursday, February 5, 2015

1FDA chief resigns: After nearly six years as Food and Drug Administration commissioner, Margaret Hamburg announced her resignation Thursday in an e-mail to the agency’s staff. She said the FDA’s chief scientist, Stephen Ostroff, will serve as acting head. While seen as stabilizing the FDA after a series of short-term leaders, Hamburg also leaves the agency amid unfinished projects and potential changes. Her successor will have to complete an update of food safety and labeling regulations and contend with a Republican Congress focused on streamlining drug reviews.

2 School shooting: Two people died Thursday in an apparent murder-suicide inside a building on the University of South Carolina’s campus in downtown Columbia. The shooting happened around 1 p.m. as students were changing classes. Police spokesman Thom Berry said the shooting was “very isolated” but he wouldn’t say who was involved, whether it was a student, professor or someone else.

3Childhood obesity: First lady Michelle Obama visited a school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Thursday to announce a $500 million donation funding the fight against childhood obesity. The money comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The initiative encourages educators and families to serve healthier food and to organize more exercise. The foundation also donated $500 million in 2007 toward improving children’s eating and life habits.

4Head lice death: Massachusetts police are investigating the death of an 18-month-old child who suffocated, apparently because of a home remedy for head lice involving mayonnaise and a plastic bag. A Springfield Police Department spokesman says officers responded to a city home last Saturday for reports of a child not breathing. Police said the little girl’s scalp was covered in mayonnaise and a plastic shopping bag was placed over her head, a common home remedy for head lice. The girl was left unattended and apparently fell asleep, allowing the bag to slip down over her face, suffocating her.

5'Stop whining’: Officials in Maryland say a 911 dispatcher told a teenager to stop whining after a hit-and-run crash killed her father in the Maryland City area. Press reports said the Anne Arundel County dispatcher is now in a position where he won’t have contact with the public. Fire Department Capt. Russ Davies says the dispatcher “used a poor choice of words” and that an investigation into the call is under way. Davies declined to identify the operator.

6Empire State building race: An Australian woman won the annual race up the Empire State Building’s stairs for the sixth time, a record for the women’s event. Suzy Walsham dashed up 1,576 steps to the 86th-floor observatory on Wednesday night in 12 minutes and 30 seconds. The men’s race was won by German runner Christian Riedel, a first-time winner who came in at 10 minutes and 16 seconds.